The Long Awaited Novel
by Aelan Greenleaf
Summary: Elizabeth Weir was strangely surprised to find her command staff gathered so early in the morning, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the last adventure of the great boy wizard. McWeir, Sheyla


_The Long Awaited Novel_

**A/N: Obviously this vignette is a flight of fancy; I have seemingly resurrected one character and ignored the life-threatening injuries of another. Let us simply pretend for the sake of this story that any and all events from **_**Sunday**_

* * *

Doctor Elizabeth Weir found herself strangely surprised at what she found in the gate room so early in the morning.

She had expected, as routine dictated, that her morning personnel would be quite busy this morning with the anticipated arrival of supplies from the _Daedalus_. She had not expected, however, to find her primary offworld team, her chief medical officer, and her assistant head of science gathered together at the base of the staircase, apparently awaiting something with barely disguised excitement.Rodney seemed the most enthused among the small group, though John was looking especially eager, even more so than when he'd received the Super Bowl final in one of the last data stream transmissions from Earth.

"Good morning!" she called out to them, coming down the stairs and looking down at her front-line personnel, grinning down at them.

Rodney was the first to look up. " 'Morning, Elizabeth!" he replied, hastily waving his hand up at her in greeting, then directing his focus back down to a sheet of paper gripped tightly in his other hand.

She couldn't help but feel intrigued. "What's going on here?" she asked Teyla, who, along with Ronon, seemed blessedly unaffected by whatever was occupying everyone else's attention.

Teyla looked equally amused. "They are awaiting the arrival of what Dr. McKay calls 'the greatest adventure ever written'. It is about a boy warrior who defends his world with sorcery."

This apparently blasphemous statement drew her chief military officer's attention up to the two women. "_Magic,_ Teyla, remember? He's not a sorcerer, he's a wizard." The look on his face seemed so serious for such a trivial matter, and it took all of Elizabeth's considerable self-restraint to not laugh out loud.

It seemed the same for Teyla as well, but the Athosian woman subtly redirected all of her considerable amusement into a humble nod of her head, which nearly pushed Elizabeth past her breaking point. "My apologies, John," she stated calmly, and this seemed to satisfy her friend, who then returned to his heated debate with Radek about what Elizabeth gathered to be the outcome of one 'Final Battle'.

Ronon, meanwhile, was looking as confused at the Satedan could get. "Hold on. So there's a Killing Curse that makes people fall dead wherever they stand?"

"That's right," Carson was saying, and she had never seen her easy-mannered friend so... _annoyed_ about something before.

"So why don't they just kill all of their enemies right away? One shot and they're dead! Battle's done and over with."

Carson sighed heavily, his irritation evident in his expression. "It's not that simple," he began, and Elizabeth couldn't help herself any longer.

"Are you seriously all arguing about _Harry Potter_?" she asked incredulously, a silly grin plastered on her face, amused beyond belief.

The voices chattering anxiously around her stopped suddenly, as all eyes were redirected up to her, mouths open in disbelief. They all looked so serious and so passionate, and the cause then became blatantly apparent to her.

"Is the final book arriving today? Is that why most of my command staff is gathered here arguing about magic and wizards?"

At this, Rodney stood up, brandishing his sheet of paper and waving it at her in agitation. "Elizabeth, this is a serious matter. Not everyone here pre-ordered their books, and _some_ of them have taken to bribery and blackmail." He shot a pointed look at Carson, who shrugged and crossed his arms, smiling almost _evilly_ at the scientist.

"At any rate, this is the last book of the series, Elizabeth, and being a galaxy away from home doesn't change that. So we have taken steps to assure that we will not be missing out." He smirked at her then in his unique McKay style, apparently proud of his passion for the phenomenon that was Harry Potter.

"Go on," she said softly, still grinning madly at the fervent passion driving her closest friends.

'Well," he started, and he tensed a little more, now acutely aware of all the attention being placed upon him, standing in the middle of the gate room, loudly declaring his dedication to the most famous fictional character of Earth, "that's about it," he finished lamely, though Elizabeth did notice him trying to casually bring the paper down below his back.

"What's on the paper, Rodney?" she asked, gesturing with a nod of her head towards the page he had almost succeeded in concealing.

"What paper?" he answered innocently, hastily trying to shove it into his back pocket, but Teyla was far too quick for him, having stealthily moved towards him while he spoke with Elizabeth. She tore the paper away from him with barely any resistance on his part; he was too much in shock to react. Teyla brought the paper up to the other woman, and Elizabeth smirked back down at him in an eerily perfect McKay-esque manner. She scanned the list quickly, and out of the corner of her eye she could see him blush preemptively.

"Oh, Rodney," she exclaimed, barely holding her laughter back.

"What is it?" asked John, his face still deadly serious, and Elizabeth couldn't even look at him for fear of exploding with laughter.

"It's a list of characters from Harry Potter and their Atlantis' counterparts. You're Harry, John."

He unconsciously puffed out his chest at this statement, pride evident in his face. "Of course I am," he stated, and it was an uncharacteristic self-pride that seemed to overtake him.

Elizabeth, however, wasn't done. "Carson, you're Oliver Wood; Radek, you're Ernie MacMillian; and Ronon is Victor Krum," she said, pausing as she looked back up at the people gathered around her. She noticed the Czech's displeasure at his counterpart's identity, and John's obvious amusement at Ronon's involvement. She gazed back down at the paper again, and frowned.

"Rodney, why are you Ron Weasley?"

"Ron?" exclaimed John, and he turned quickly to his friend. "Why the _hell_ are you Ron? You're nothing like him!"

The colour of the physicist's face was a deep and crimson red, and he mumbled something down towards his feet.

"What was that?" asked John, grinning at the sudden transformation McKay had quickly under gone.

"I said it was because of Elizabeth!" he exclaimed, throwing out his arms in agitation and embarrassment, then dropping down to sit on the stairs below, his face hidden in his hands.

"Oh, this is good," smirked John, turning back to Elizabeth. "Who are you supposed to be?"

She scanned the list once more. "Hermione Granger."

The effect was instantaneous. Laughter exploded throughout the assembled group, with John falling down beside Rodney in pure glee. "I _knew_ it!" he exclaimed, his hand thumping down onto his friend's shoulder. "I knew you liked her! And now it's obvious for _everyone_ to see!"

The Canadian quickly moved his hands away from his face and turned to his teammate, eyes burning in embarrassed anger. "Look who's talking! I didn't just make you Harry for your remarkable fighting skills and brooding manners! Look who I picked for Ginny!"

John blanched, and stumbled awkwardly to his feet, reaching up to Elizabeth. "No, it's okay Elizabeth pleasepleasedontreadit!" His words came out in a confused and nervous jumble, and Elizabeth was just too intrigued to not find Ginny Weasley on the list in front of her.

"It's you, Teyla," she stated in surprise, and she could hear a triumphant _Ha!_ from further down the stairs.

Teyla looked down at John, who had lost all colour in his face and looked as nervous as she had ever seen him before, and grinned. "I assume this is a good thing?" she asked, and John Sheppard found himself infinitely grateful that she was not from Earth.

The colour slowly started to return to his features, and he returned her smile. "Yes, it's a good thing," he answered happily.

They were interrupted by the resonating sound of the _Daedalus' _transporter and the sight of numerous boxes, equipment and cases materializing on the gate room floor. Someone squealed from amongst the group (most likely Rodney), and they all rushed forward, reaching the supplies long before the bewildered expedition members in charge of the unpacking could even react. Several other people had joined the group, and they too were tearing at the boxes, grabbing their precious copies of the long awaited novel and heading back out into the city, presumably to find a secret spot where they could read the final adventure of Harry Potter in peace. The room emptied out remarkably fast, and Elizabeth soon found herself among the last stragglers, watching with a pleased smile as John escorted Teyla out, explaining the finer plot details of _The Philosopher's Stone_.

She turned and headed back to her office, realizing quite suddenly the implications of what Rodney had said earlier. Did he really like her? This thought stopped her dead in her tracks, as her heart started to thump faster and faster beneath her chest. She couldn't say that this wasn't what she wanted; she'd harboured a secret, if not mild, case of infatuation since he'd stepped in front of Koyla's gun for her, but she would have never thought that-

"Elizabeth?"

She couldn't help the nervous gasp that escaped her as he touched the side of her elbow, and she turned to face him in shock. He was holding a copy of the latest book in his right hand, and she couldn't help but smile at the awkward movement of eyes as she looked at him.

"Yes?" she breathed, her heart still racing.

"I, uh, just wanted to apologize for what happened in the gate room, I didn't mean to embarrass you or involve or what not, and I know that you probably don't feel the same way about me, so if we could just act like it never happened I promise I won't ever embarrass-" he babbled, before he was abruptly cut off by the touch of Elizabeth Weir's lips upon his own, silencing him in an instant.

"You-you like me back?" he breathed incredulously after they broke apart, and she laughed at the state he had been reduced to, all traces of his normal pompous and arrogant attitude blown away.

She smiled at him. "I didn't get a copy of the book, Rodney; perhaps you would be kind enough to share your copy with me?"

All he could was grin stupidly and nod.


End file.
